A timely low brace at Carnage Corner.

At Carnage Corner the waves ramped up blocking our view of the way ahead. Even from the crests, I frequently lost sight of Jim in the troughs. As the wave length shortened, Jim and I saw an opportunity to catch the others and really started to paddle hard to catch the waves for some decent surfing.

Then it happened. Just as he was applying a power stroke, two closely spaced waves lifted the bow and stern of Jim's Taran, leaving free air in the trough beneath his keel. He went over in a flash and from the wave crest, all I saw was the underside of Jim's keel. I thought a rescue would be inevitable but before I could drop the sail, Jim came back up. He was leaning heavily on a low brace, as the wave at his stern now hurled him forward.

It was a magnificent demonstration of Jim's skill and seamanship and we carried on as if nothing had happened. At this point, Jim is completely hidden in the trough just ahead of me.

The seas gradually moderated as we approached  Dunure castle but I noticed that Jim was no longer sprinting to catch the waves...

We had arranged to rendevous at Dunure harbour...

...where Phil assisted our landing in a surprising size of surf that was getting into the harbour.

David pumped his boat. Not from water that had got in round Carnage Corner but from getting swamped while landing...

...at the harbour. Jim approached cautiously as it would be a shame to...

...scratch his new Taran.

In the pub, we swapped tales of monster waves and congratulated ourselves on such a fine paddle. Then Jim told everyone about his timely low brace but we were concerned to hear he had hurt his wrist.

Our approach to Carnage Corner.

As we approached the rocky coastline at the north end of Culzean Bay...

...Jim was really powering the Taran, catching every wave in order to nose ahead of the kayak sailors.

However, as we passed the point, the wind increased and Jim inevitably fell behind the kayak sailors.

One of the dangers in kayak sailing is that a mixed group can become very spread out. David, Phil and Tony were well ahead  so...

...I sprinted on and...

 ...told the others to blast ahead, while I stayed with Jim. Despite being without a spraydeck...

...David seemed quite unperturbed as we approached Carnage Corner.

  A wide angle lens always makes the water look flatter than it really is...

...but this is a notorious piece of coast for kayak carnage. I have written about a previous epic in these very waters: "Attrition on the Clyde" in which a party of 8 was reduced to 3.